Friday, 27 January 2017

How to communicate to Hearing People...

It's difficult for deaf people to understand hearing people and make friends. And it's also hard for hearing people to understand deaf people.

But we all have to be more sensitive and try to understand each other. For example, hearing people may not understand when deaf people communicate using sign language. We can try to teach hearing friends how to communicate with us using Sign Language and Lip Reading. There are no differences between the hearing and the deaf.

Another sign awareness thing, but good speech would help lip-readers too, or more patience with those who have hearing aids. Sign alone won't provide hearing with access to most deaf,just deaf who sign. Would it not help if the deaf used alternatives to sign initially ? You have to establish a way in first. There are huge gaps in awareness where hearing people (And some deaf !), do not understand e.g. a lot of deaf have a good speaking voice, who suffer abuse from deaf and hearing alike, and get called fakers.

Learning sign takes a considerable time to master to hold a real conversation. While most would make some effort to talk to a pretty girl, or a deaf child, they would perhaps NOT make the same effort to communicate to someone older or with a poor voice etc. I spend every day of my life with hearing people who do not sign, I manage a lot better than those deaf who draw some line with hearing interactions unless they can sign at them, they must spend an awful lot of their life just with each other and not accessing the wider scheme of things.

When can we see an awareness video that covers the need of deaf people to widen their communication skills to make it easier for themselves ? (Without Deaf claiming discrimination or something). If we all sit back plugging singular sign language awareness and making little real effort ourselves to cross the divides, it is not going to happen in many of our lifetimes. There does seem a divide within the deaf world as to if they WANT wider inclusion if it means their 'community' is too accessible to hearing and others who do not use sign language. It's a relentless fall-back system, deaf want access but on their terms, that is not how things happen.

Yes we should all learn sign, we should all have CI's, all have gene therapy, or we should all lip-read instead, but it won't happen... There is a medical clock of research & Technology ticking away that may NOT require hearing to sign, they will use their phones or other means instead to do it, but this kills true interaction, and offers a barrier to the need to learn sign. Can't help feeling progress is going to circumvent the need to sign. Text has killed media sign need already.